Playboy: The Mansion

The Good
Heh. Ever played those games where you had one assumption in mind and it turns out to be far from what you expected? Well, this is one of those games, at least for me.

Playboy: The Mansion really isn't a game a veteran gamer would be drooling to buy at the stores. And I need not tell you why. When you have this image of a "porn/adult" game, usually that's what you expect. Like my more perverse side that plays hentai games, you expect porn, nudity, sex scenes. What you do not expect is a decent plot, addictive game play, or anything else in mind that you expect from your favorite gaming genre.

Now what did I not expect in this game?
Intelligence.

Whoa! It must be signs of Armageddon! Strategic gameplay from a game called Playboy: The Mansion. Sometimes good things come from the least expected sources...er...in a perverse kind of way :)

The game is an almost complete copy-cat of The Sims 2, apparently looks like the same game engine and similar style of game play, though missing a lot of integral parts that eventually made Sims 2 a hit.

But what's different in this game that makes it worth mentioning? There is an element that Sims 2 does not provide: strategic gameplay. Strategy in this game refers to you publishing successful series of your playboy magazine. Each issue must have the following:

• A centerfold shot of a hot model;
• An article created by your journalists;
• An essay from a "famous" 3rd party;
• A location shot regarding a certain issue;
• An interview of a "famous" person.

Unlike Sims 2, this game has a mission. Sims 2 is basically a free-flow game, there are little plots and sub-missions but no overall macro objective. In this game, all those little plots and sub-missions revolve around one thing and one thing only: issue a hit issue of playboy every month!

Doing this involves almost similar gameplay with Sims 2 --> Communication and Social skills. Getting to know clients, famous people, your staff. Make them to trust and like you, which will eventually make them do what you want them to do.

This game also has a more serious approach to topics. Politics, fashion, gaming, movies, etc. are all elements an audience wants to read in a magazine. You have to create articles and a selling image that promotes that idea for your magazine to be interesting to a target audience.

These topics also act like a "personality trait" in each NPC (Non-Player Character) in the game. Journalists who like politics will create better articles when asked to write one down on politics. Whereas if asked to do an interview with a person that doesn't like politics, this may create a low-quality material of an interview.

The game also seems to qualify as an RPG, as personal and NPC character development is crucial in creating high-quality material for your magazine. A photographer with high charm and intelligence will come up with better photographs. So will a journalist. Asking an essay from an "intelligent" NPC will have better quality than one from a less intelligent one.

Everything else in the game is partially important, like buying furniture or renovating your mansion.

The Bad
The game unfortunately could have been more. The strategic values in the game though commendable, are not complex enough to qualify as a serious strategy game. The fact that the game revolves around this more rather than being "just a porn game" shows a bit of inconsistency on what target audience this game was primary intended for.

There are sex scenes and bare-naked women in the game, but unfortunately for playboy, that isn't the selling pitch of the game. It's just a feature. Even more so since sex-scenes are more humorous in nature than actually being a hot-steamy love episode in other adult games.

This is the main issue of the game. Does it want to be a strategy game or does it want to be a porn game? A tough choice considering the title.

There are a lot of elements lacking the in game compared to Sims 2. The element lacking is called "elegance".

The "elegance" factor in my definition refers to little things you may not notice and take for granted in Sims 2. This refers to dance moves, social gestures, the "Sims language". I noticed in Sims 2, they took these elements very seriously, whereas in Playboy, they did not. Dance moves were something you'd find in a cheap discotheque; the voice-overs were somewhat boring and duplicated from Sims 2 in a bad way, etc.

In the end, the game could have been more. Though I do realize to a certain point...were the developers "allowed" to do more?

The Bottom Line
Despite professional reviews, I will say that this game is worth a shot. And I must say this game has a lot of educational value! No, not the sex, you pervert!

The game allows certain "bonuses" to be opened. These bonuses refer to real-life interviews by famous people interviewed by playboy: Michael Jordan, Whoopie Goldberg, etc.

The interviews are really, really goood! I must say, the game changed my perception about the magazine. It's not only about nude pictures!

The Good
Almost everything in this game I love, the game plays as a combo of tycoon and "The Sims" so I love the gameplay to death, putting items in your house is a blast, and interacting with them, as well as your guest, is even better. The tycoon part of this game is just as fun and easy as the Sim part, in order to build your playboy empire, you need to hire a staff, meet celebrities, and become friends with as many people as possible, having some girlfriends and sex a long the way is great also. You just can't go wrong with this game. The controls are awesome and easy to use, very easy to use, click to go to a place or area and also interact with people and objects (interacting with objects and having sex is just on the side fun thing to do, it doesn't accomplish anything for you like it does in the Sims) play and hopefully you will like it. The graphics while not like Sims 2 get the job done nicely, their better than the first Sims graphics so don't complain so much. The sound is great too, love the music.

The Bad
One thing, the camera is a little hard to use, you see it is always focused on Hefner, so you can't move it around freely. So in order to see everything and get around, you have to be on the move the whole time, it can be hard to interact with something or someone like this. That's it for the bad.

The Bottom Line
How would I describe this to others, a over looked and unappreciated game, you should really give it a try it's fun. Yeah, it does get a little repetitive after long plays (not for me, but maybe for you) but so does the Sims, so why would that matter.

The Good
The ladies. As Hugh Hefner you can invite 100s of gorgeous women round to your house and they all want to talk to you and 'be' with you (in the biblical sense)!!

The Bad
The gameplay was monotonous.

The developers could also have done more to introduce variety in the settings (including eg a ferrari or two parked out the front), and in the look and characterisation of the women. In fact had this element been developed I think my wife would have been into playing it, as she was interested in the make-up and fashion angle.

The Bottom Line
I like ladies, including pretend cyber chicks, which is why I liked this game. Its a bit shallow though, but thats OK.